Antarctic Forest
The Antarctic Forest or Antarctic Rainforest is a large tropical rainforest in the north of the continent of Antarctica in 100 million AD. By this era, Antarctica has drifted far north enough for it to lie partially in the tropics, and the Antarctic Forest is a lush place teeming with unique plant and animal life, particularly flying animals such as birds and insects. Geography & climate The forest covers almost the entirety of Antarctica's northern region, including several mountainous areas. The south of the continent still lies in colder climes, so the forest has not spread far south. The Antarctic Forest lies in the tropics, not too far south of the equator, and is therefore very warm, especially given 100 million AD's generally higher global temperatures. Trade winds also bring year-round warm rains, giving a further boost to plant life. Life s, such as this roachcutter, a flutterbird.]] , which camouflages itself as a spitfire tree flower to ambush its prey.]] As Antarctica is an island continent, seperated from the rest of the world by hundreds of miles of sea, all life in the Antarctic Forest has flown or been blown there. When the continent lay in the polar regions, its plant life consisted mainly of mosses, lichens, and alga. However, as it drifted north, seeds and spores of true plants were blown west from South America, and those seeds which survived established themselves in Antarctica and radiated into several different species, eventually giving rise to the Antarctic Forest itself. More plants were brought over with successive animal migrations, and the Antarctic Forest is home to a great variety of plant life, including the spitfire tree, a keystone species on which several animals rely. The first foreign animals to arrive on the continent were spiders and insects, which were lightweight enough to be carried there on the winds. They flourished among the developing plant life, and eventually evolved into larger forms due to high global oxygen levels: insects are the dominant predators of the Antarctic Forest, with giant wasps chasing down other animals, and predatory beetles ambushing them. Birds, specifically tubenose seabirds like petrels, shearwaters, fulmars, and albatrosses, had inhabited the coasts of Antarctica even when it was covered in ice, and with the development of the forest, they evolved into myriad forms. The most common birds are the flutterbirds, which come in a variety of shapes and forms, but there are other bird families, including ones which have become ground-dwellers. The forest is also home to other, non-tubenose birds which arrived from across the seas. Gallery FIW 1x08 Forest from above.png FIW 1x08 More forest scenery.png FIW 1x08 Even more forest scenery.png FIW 1x08 Forest scenery.png FIW 1x08 Spitfire tree.png Behind the scenes In "Tropical Antarctica," the Antarctic Forest was filmed at JungleWorld, a large indoor tropical rainforest, in New York's Bronx Zoo. List of appearances Which is your favourite organism of the ? Roachcutter Falconfly Spitfire bird False spitfire bird Spitfire beetle *The Future Is Wild'' **1x01. Welcome to the Future **1x08. Tropical Antarctica *''The Future Is Wild: A Natural History of the Future'' *''The Future Is Wild'' (fulldome show) *''The Future Is Wild'' (animated series) **102. Extreme Birdwatching **116. Parent Trap **117. Around the World In 80 Minutes **122. Ghost in the Machine **125. Queen of the Squibbons, Part 2 *''The Future Is Wild: The Living Book'' Navigation Category:Ecoregions Category:Ecoregions of 100 million AD Category:100 million AD